Neighborhood residents have Olympic dreams

February 09, 2007|By Kathryn Masterson, RedEye; and from news services

The centerpiece of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympic games is an 80,000-seat temporary stadium to be built in the historic Washington Park on the South Side. Some people living west of the park in the Washington Park neighborhood are hoping that such a development, if it happens, would provide an economic shot in the arm to their community.

"This is an opportunity for our park to be the one location in the world where people would be focused on. It's an opportunity of a lifetime," said resident Cecilia Butler, who leads the Washington Park Advisory Council, which plans festivals and other events in the park.

In exchange for use of the park, Butler says community members would like to see some guarantees of jobs and economic support that would benefit Washington Park long after the Closing Ceremonies.

The advisory council has listened to residents' concerns about the city's plan and has put together a 28-point proposal of things community members would like to see. On the wish list are items such as job training for people in the community and economic development for the area, including grocery stores.

The neighborhood "needs an economic boom with or without the Olympics," Butler said.

Here's what people in the neighborhood had to say Thursday:

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"It's a good thing--it could bring lots of people to these businesses [on Garfield Boulevard]. Not too many people know about them. Washington Park is a good place. I don't think they need to do too much more because they're building a multimillion-dollar stadium in the middle of the park. They can't do much more than that."

Edward Dillon, 18

"It's a very good thing. It will bring things up in the neighborhood and bring more people into the neighborhood. ... We've got a lot of time for preparation, to get people in the neighborhood involved. It's such a short period of time that the Olympics would be here, [the city] must keep the progress going after that. If not, all the progress would be in vain."